Nick Saban explains where SEC has edge over Big Ten in 2025

As part of a weekly Friday afternoon appearance on the Pat McAfee Show, fellow College GameDay cast member Nick Saban joined McAfee to discuss the weekend ahead in college football.

During a conversation about the Big Ten spotlight matchup between Ohio State and Illinois, Saban completely side-swiped the conference and juxtaposed one Big Ten critique with evidence that the SEC is actually the superior conference in college football in 2025.

“I don’t think the Big Ten is really that deep," Saban commented bluntly. "I think Illinois does have a pretty decent team, but it’s not like the SEC where you got eight or nine teams that can beat you; there might be three or four teams in the Big Ten that can beat you.”

AJ Hawk fumbled through a counter-argument while Saban dug his heels in against Hawk and the other McAfee henchmen who were boisterously reacting to his Big Ten declaration.

“Deeper by what? I mean, Penn State," Saban huffed. "I mean, tell me the good teams? Maybe Michigan." Saban noted that plenty of Big Ten teams are "alright" but "alright" ain't quite good enough to write home about.

"Alright is not really what I’m talking about," Saban said whilst forming finger-quotes. "You think USC is going to beat Ohio State? You think that would be a game if they played? Really? No, but you have Oregon, Indiana — legit, so far, and we’ll see how Indiana is probably tomorrow."

Nick Saban wants cold hard proof that these Big Ten teams are good. After how Illinois suffered in Bloomington, how could he trust this conference?

"I mean, Illinois got beat like a red-headed stepchild, you know, down in Indiana," Saban pointed out. "So, are they legit? I mean, come on."

Saban believes SEC has strength in numbers

A detailed view of the SEC logo on a chain marker | Maria Lysaker-Imagn Images

Saban admitted that Ohio State "is great" at football in 2025, but the Big Ten at large fails, in his eyes, to stack up with the depth of the SEC. Of course, he did go through the process of naming those SEC squads that could threaten to make the College Football Playoff.

Frankly, he's not lying with pretty much any of these selections:

“Texas is not what everybody thought Texas would be, but A&M is pretty good, Georgia’s pretty good, Ole Miss is pretty good, Alabama’s got a chance, Missouri’s got a chance," he shared. "I mean, there’s a lot of good teams. Tennessee’s pretty good.”

That's leaving out a top-10 Oklahoma team who's getting their star quarterback to return, plus a Vanderbilt team that looks strong and only has one (very quality) loss so far.

Saban is definitely right, here. The semantics of basic head-to-head matchups and recent national titles to Michigan and Ohio State have Big Ten fans convinced that their league is on top, and it may well be in terms of championship-level contenders. However, as the former SEC head coach noted, you can't go half-a-dozen teams deep in the Big Ten who you could actually picture making the playoff, while the SEC might have a whole dozen still dreaming about the postseason tournament.

Saban believes SEC has strength in numbers

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